MOBILE, Alabama — A trail of blood stains found throughout Zoa White’s house match the DNA of a man now charged with capital murder in her slaying, a police detective testified today.

White, 69, was found mostly nude and beaten to death in the kitchen of her Spring Hill Avenue house on June 28. A rear window was broken and the back door was found open, police said.

Weeks later, Carlos Edward Kennedy was arrested and charged with capital murder in her death.

Kennedy, 24, appeared in Mobile County District Court for a preliminary hearing today, in which Mobile homicide Detective Rusty Hardeman described what evidence investigators had discovered.

Police were initially led to Kennedy after a palm print and a fingerprint inside the house matched Kennedy’s prints on file from a previous arrest, prosecutors said.

Hardeman said blood samples were taken from across the house — such as a dining room mantle, a piece of clothing in an upstairs bedroom, a staircase, and a napkin found near White’s body.

The samples were analyzed by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences and compared with a blood sample from Kennedy, Hardeman said, and the results were a match.

Kennedy, who worked installing satellite TV, was interviewed by police, Hardeman testified. Kennedy initially said that he’d never been inside the two-story house.

He lived in an apartment complex on Mobile Infirmary Boulevard, just off Spring Hill Avenue, less than a half-mile away from White’s house.

Kennedy then told police that he “was walking by” one day when White asked him to move a box of lamps from the kitchen to an upstairs bathroom, according to Hardeman.

But then, he changed his story again, Hardeman said. Kennedy claimed that he had a sexual relationship with White for a couple of weeks, he said.

Prosecutors later said there was no evidence that Kennedy had been inside White’s house before that night.

Kennedy had scars on the knuckles of his right hand, Hardeman said, and “he had no explanation for it.” Blood had been found on the broken window glass.

White was severely beaten, the detective said, and it appeared that a claw hammer was used to strike her in the forehead.

Several hammers taken from the house are being examined by forensic scientists for any evidence, he said.

After hearing the detective’s testimony, District Judge Bob Sherling sent the case to be considered by a Mobile County grand jury.

Defense attorney Bob Clark said Kennedy has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder charge. He did not comment on the detective’s testimony.

White, formerly a real estate agent, worked on a campaign for Gov. Bob Riley and as special projects director for the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

Kennedy last year was arrested on an indecent exposure charge, and a municipal judge found him not guilty for lack of evidence, according to court records. A Mobile woman accused him of exposing himself inside her house while installing a satellite TV connection.

Capital murder is punishable by life in prison without parole or the death penalty.